When I was on a leadership retreat, I got the advice from a top earner in my company to tape a $100 bill to my bathroom mirror. I asked him why and he didn't really explain further except to say that he looks at the bill daily while brushing his teeth and affirms that more is coming his way. I took his advice seriously. He is making $50,000+ in the company I am a consultant in so why the heck wouldn't I listen to what he tells me to do?

So I went home and did just that - Went to the bank, withdrew a $100 bill and placed it right up at the top of my bathroom mirror. What happened next was something that I did not anticipate. Maybe you're thinking that I won the lottery or that found a bag of money in the woods. Fancy thinking but that's not what happened! What did happen wasn't anywhere near that fun and exciting. It was actually the opposite of fun. I started to have a lot of anxiety. Thoughts like: That $100 bill could be in my savings account. Or: I could have used it to pay for the kids' shoes, or the landscaper, the veterinarian appointment...you name it! If I had recently spent any money, afterwards I would look at the $100 bill and think: 'That $100 bill could've paid for that.' I then found myself getting irritated that I couldn't even let a $100 bill be displayed on my mirror without being anxious about it! Irritated and anxious was not a good place to be. I was surprised that this simple manifesting exercise was having this negative effect on me. This made me realize that I was wrestling with some scarcity mentality about money and the $100 bill in my face every day was making those emotions bubble up to the surface.

I didn't want to bring the bill down. I felt that it would be an admission of defeat and it would mean my fear-based thoughts won. So I brainstormed about what I could do to alleviate my anxiety. My best idea was my simplest one - utilizing my dry erase marker! Ahh the magic of writing happy things in dry erase on a mirror! If you've ever written affirmations to yourself then you know there is power in it. I frequently write things on my mirrors to remind me of all sorts of things - gratitude, living in the now, goals I am working towards, etc. etc. So why not write something with the intention of having a better relationship with money? I wrote in big letters: 'There is always enough' right underneath that $100 bill. Then after a few days of reading that affirmation, it didn't feel right and I had to change it again. I changed it to: 'There is ALWAYS MORE than enough' because to me, the first affirmation had the energy of scraping by and I want to be abundant.

It's funny how much my anxiety lifted after writing that second affirmation. Now I look at my mirror and I feel peaceful. I think to myself - there IS always more than enough!! And it makes me smile. I no longer have the urge to tear down the $100 bill. I am no longer in scarcity mentality. I feel much more abundant and you know what, there IS really more than enough in my household. We are supported and taken care of. When I pay bills and have unexpected costs come up, I remember my affirmation - there is always more than enough. I deeply trust in my process of the growth and expansion in my household.

I want to hear from you: Have you ever done a manifesting/personal development exercise that has made your fear-based emotions bubble up to the surface? What did you do to push through and make it to the other side? Are you a better person today because of that exercise?